HP Expands Laptop Battery Recall to 78,500 Units

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announced that HP expanded its recall of the batteries used in some of its notebooks and mobile workstations due to "fire and burn hazards."

HP announced the expanded recall in January. Because of the U.S. government shutdown--which at 34 full days was the longest in American history--the CPSC wasn't able to discuss it on its website until March 12. Now that it has, more people should know about the recall.

The original recall was announced in January 2018 and affected 50,000 battery units. The CPSC said HP received "eight reports of battery packs overheating, melting, or charring, including three reports of property damage totaling $4,500 with one report of a minor injury involving a first degree burn to the hand."

Since then, according to the CPSC, HP received "eight new reports of battery packs in the U.S. overheating, melting, or charring, including one report of minor injury and two reports of property damage totaling $1,100." So the recall has been expanded to "about 78,500" battery units that consumers need to have replaced by HP.

The CPSC said the batteries were "shipped in notebook computers and mobile workstations sold from December 2015 through April 2018 for between $300 and $4,000 and were also sold separately between December 2015 and December 2018 for between $50 and $90." HP has set up a site with more information about the recall process.